10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
Asian markets were mixed overnight with Korea's Kospi index climbing and Japan's Nikkei falling. Europe and U.S. futures were up, but they tanked this morning.
Last night, President Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election. The major media outlets called it after Obama secured Ohio, arguably the most crucial battleground state.
Another major election victory came in Massachusetts where Democrat Elizabeth Warren took the senate seat from Republican Scott Brown. Wall Street, your worst nightmare just won the Massachusetts Senate race >
In something of a consolation prize, Mitt Romney's running mate Paul Ryan won his Wisconsin seat in the House of Representatives. A key upset came in Florida where Tea Party favorite Allen West lost to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy.
The election results have also ignited a sharp rally in the gold markets. The thinking is that with Obama in the White House, expectations are high that Ben Bernanke or some other monetary policy dove will be at the helm of the Federal Reserve for a lot longer.
U.S. futures told an interesting story overnight. As Obama's chances of re-election appeared to improve, futures initially sank. This seemed to be in line with Wall Street's thesis that a Romney win would be better for stocks. However, futures recovered all of their losses after Obama secured re-election. This appears to be in line with the idea that no matter who wins, the improving sense of certainty is bullish.
However, European markets and U.S. futures took a major turn for the worse this morning after European Central Bank head Mario Draghi warned that "Data suggest economic slowdown has reached Germany."
All eyes will shift to Greece today where leaders will be voting on controversial austerity reforms.
German industrial production tanked in September, falling 1.8 percent. This was much worse than the 0.5 percent decline forecast by economists.
The Fed will release September consumer credit data at 3:00 PM EST. Economists forecast credit expanded by $10.2 billion.
Bonus: Both Colorado and Washington approved legislation to allow the recreational use of marijuana for adults, 21 and over. This is surely to be a hot topic for days and months to come.
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